


dark!Percy Jackson and the Olympians

by megupic



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, Annabeth's pov, Dark!Percy, POV First Person, tragic ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6366784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megupic/pseuds/megupic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would have happened if Percy had accepted Luke's offer at the end of The Lightning Thief and abandoned Camp Half-Blood?</p>
            </blockquote>





	dark!Percy Jackson and the Olympians

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write an dark!Percy AU where Percy goes with Luke at the end of the Lightning Thief instead of thwarting him and how the series could have turned out with a dark!Percy instead of the dorky hero that we know and love.

 

Look, he didn’t want to be a half-blood. None of us did, but I can’t help thinking if everything would have been easier if Percy Jackson never had been brought into existance by a broken promise. 

Being a half-blood is dangerous. It’s scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

Sometimes half-bloods kill in painful, nasty ways.

My name is Annabeth Chase.

I was twelve years old when I first met Perseus “Percy” Jackson. He came to camp with a satyr protector, Grover Underwood, who was, coincidentally, my own protector when I first came to Camp Half-Blood. Percy just barely made it to camp after making his way through a deadly thunderstorm, a horrible car crash, a near-deadly fight with the Minotaur, and losing his mother. I helped nurse him back to health, wondering if he was “the One”, the rumored Child of Prophecy.

He was my chance.

My friend Luke Castellan took Percy under his wing, acted like an older brother to him. I should have seen it then, the glint in Luke’s eyes. I had refused to see it, thinking he’d be fine. Sure, Luke had been bitter towards the gods and believed that something should have been done about them and the way they treat their demigod children. I shouldn’t have ever let him near Percy.

Then Percy was claimed as a son of Poseidon, which only meant one thing: he was the Child of Prophecy, the one who could either save Olympus or destroy it. Percy was powerful, we all could see it. He healed immediately when he touched water, but didn’t get wet. He flooded the bathroom after Clarisse La Rue had tried to stuff his head in the toilet. It was pretty funny actually, but seeing what Percy was capable of when he was angry or scared? That was terrifying. 

Long story short, Percy was sent on a quest to retrieve Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, which had been stolen and the blame had been pinned on Percy. I went with him, as well as Grover. The quest was hard, but as we continued through the quest, I noticed things about Percy. The way power surged through him, the way it was almost impossible to kill him despite falling from a 630 foot drop or his drive when fighting the god of war, Ares. Percy was an angry kid, who I learned came from an abusive step-father and a poor household in Manhattan. If anything, these things just seemed to fuel his drive, his determination to prove the gods wrong, to get his father to notice him, or to find someone to blame for his mom’s death.

And he did.

The gods grudgingly apologized to Percy and pardoned him, which was the end of it—or so I thought. Once we got back to camp though, Percy went on a walk with Luke and then the two of them disappeared. We looked everywhere for Luke and Percy, but there was no evidence where they could have gone.  
I didn’t see Percy until the next year and when I saw him on a cruise ship called The Princess Andromeda; I hardly recognized him.

I found Percy and Luke in the captain’s quarters of the Princess Andromeda while on a quest to find the Golden Fleece to heal Thalia’s tree, the power source for the magical barrier around camp. I was also trying to find Grover, who had been missing for a while now. Two birds with one stone. I had snuck onto the ship using the invisible baseball cap my mom, the goddess Athena, had given me. I hadn’t planned on getting caught at all…except for when I saw them and heard what they were planning, I snapped. It had already been a year, but Percy and Luke had both changed. Percy’s eyes were rimmed with shadows, like he hadn’t been able to get that much sleep. He was leaner, more muscular. He wielded Riptide with more confidence and his olive skin was deeply tanned from being out at sea for so long. Even though I was taller than him, his presence was more intimidating. He could have even been cute, except for the fact that his sea-green eyes were full of bitterness and rage, which perfectly mirrored Luke’s.

“—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won’t know which way to turn,” Luke had been saying.

“D'you think he’s gone for good?” Percy asked.

Luke laughed. “They can’t trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw.”

I couldn’t help it. Percy and Luke–Luke– of all people, had poisoned Thalia’s tree! I felt blood bubble up and before I had fully thought it through, I threw myself at Luke, aiming for his neck. The sudden sound and movement of some invisible person alerted the guards, Percy, and Luke and in a second I was being thrown across the room and crashed against the wall, my hat falling off my head. I suddenly had several spears pointed at me.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite cousin,” Luke said, his voice rough from my throttling. “How are you, Annabeth?”

I couldn’t stand how calm he was being. “You poisoned Thalia’s tree!” I spat.

Luke sighed. “Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?”

“How could you? Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her—”

“I didn’t dishonor her!” Luke snapped. “The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she’d be on my side.”

“Liar!”

“If you knew what was coming, you’d understand—”

“I understand you want to destroy the camp!” I yelled. “You’re a monster!”

Luke shook his head. “The gods have blinded you. Can’t you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth.”

“Because you have none of your own!”

His eyes narrowed. “I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than to be on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team? Percy was smart enough to come around. Just imagine, Annabeth, the three of us as a team. We’ll be unstoppable.”

Now it was time for me to narrow my eyes at _him_ , and then slide my glare to Percy. He seemed to turn a little bit paler under my scrutiny–good. At least I could still scare him. He seemed to summon up some of his courage though, and said,

“Annabeth, please–”

I cut him off, not wanting to hear any kind of begging he had to do. “Why did you go with him?” 

He seemed to be thrown off by my demand, furrowing his brown and cocking his head a little to the side. “What?”

“Why did you go with Luke? What happened, Percy? I thought we were friends after all we went through on our quest.”

Percy blushed; I had embarrassed him in front of Luke.  "We still are, Annabeth.“

His words just made my blood boil more. "Do you really expect me to believe that, Percy Jackson?” he flinched when I used his full name. “I trusted you! I told you some things I haven’t even told some of my siblings! And then you spit in my face by deserting the camp, poisoning the one thing that keeps us safe? That’s not friendship, Percy! That’s betrayal!”

I could tell Percy was embarrassed, his face was completely pink. I watched him as he turned from pink to red in anger as I reprimanded him.

“And what about the gods, Annabeth?” he shot back. “I didn’t even know who my dad was until last year and I was stuck with a creep who hurt my mom and me and reeked of cigs and beer! My mom is dead because of the gods! Your mom left you on a doorstep and with a family that didn’t even care about you! You of all people–”

“Stop! Stop, Percy!” I could feel tears welling up, but I was not going to cry in front of him, in front of either of them. I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.

Seeing how upset I was, Percy backed down and spoke in a quieter tone, “I’m sorry, Annabeth. I was just trying to make you understand our perspective. That’s why we’re all doing this and we need everyone in order to bring him back…” Percy pointed to the golden sarcophogus at the head of the room. I followed his finger and felt a cold chill pass over me.

“Him…? You’re not–”

“He is re-forming,” Luke said. “Little by little, we’re calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears—”

“That’s disgusting!” I said.

Luke sneered at me. “Your mother was born from Zeus’s split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn’t talk. Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus.”

“You’re insane.”

“Join us and you’ll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age!”

“Go to Tartarus,” I spit.

Luke sighed. “A shame.” He picked up something that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks.

They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals I’d seen, but I had a feeling this wouldn’t make them any less dangerous in a fight.

“Ah, good, security,” Luke said, “I’m afraid we have a stowaway.”

“Yes, sir,” they said dreamily.

Luke turned to the head guard. “It’s time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take this little fool below and show her how it’s done.”

There was no way I was becoming drakon food. The guards started towards me, but I wouldn’t let them get so far as touching me. I snatched up my cap, shoved it onto my head, and pushed past the startled guards. I heard Luke’s shouts at Percy and the guards to capture me. Good luck, losers, catching someone you can’t see!  
I burst out onto the deck and quickly tried to find a lifeboat. I ran along the side, aware of Percy and the guards bursting onto the deck right behind me. I had to hurry.  
I found a lifeboat hanging off the side and I quickly jumped into it and started to lower the boat.

There were shouts behind me, no doubt Percy and the guards had found me. I released the pulleys, making the boat free-fall towards the ocean. I held on tight, praying to Poseidon to please let me live from the impact. I knew I had to work fast before Percy manipulated the waves to keep me trapped. I opened up my backpack and pulled out the thermos of winds Hermes had given me at the start of my quest and I twisted the lid. I shot off across the water, skipping like a rock, until I was far enough away. As I sped away from the Princess Andromeda, I let the tears fall.

 

It was a while before I saw Percy again, but that doesn’t mean plenty didn’t happen. During the winter, I went on a recruitment mission with Grover and Thalia, who had been brought back thanks to the Golden Fleece a few months ago. At a boarding school in Maine, we found two demigods, Nico and Bianca di Angelo. We had intended to bring them back to camp, but one of the monsters keeping on eye on the kids, the manticore going by the alias “Dr. Thorn”, attacked us. Even though the Hunters of Artemis showed up and helped save the kids, I ended up being captured. I was brought to the rebellion’s headquarters where I thought they would just throw me in a dungeon to rot or worse, kill me. 

I was dumped on a mountain and tricked by Luke. I thought I was saving him, despite all of what he did. I couldn’t lose Luke. My friend. My brother. My… I wasn’t going to go there. But instead of holding up the sky with him, he left me alone, in pain, and crushed under the weight of the entire universe, my only hope was the goddess, Artemis, and the campers from Camp Half-Blood.

When I demanded where Percy was while underneath the burden of the sky, Luke turned to me and dismissively said, “He is being prepared in other ways.”   
The words chilled me to the core.

Thankfully, I was rescued by a group of Camp Half-Blood campers and a few hunters of Artemis, the group that included Thalia, Grover, and Zoe, the daughter of Atlas and Artemis’ right hand. Tragically, Zoe didn’t make it and Thalia replaced her. I was also extended an invitation to join the hunters.

I almost said yes.

Almost. 

The only thought keeping me from accepting the invitation were the thoughts of Luke and Percy, that maybe one day I’d be able to save both of them.

 

That summer we found  Daedalus’ Labyrinth. It was an accident during a game of Capture the Flag. I was sent on a quest with Grover and a few other campers to check it out and to try to get a one-up on Kronos’ forces. The Labyrinth was a terrifying place that didn’t follow the rules of time or physics, but it also was a home to terrible monsters, two-faced gods, and certain cow goddesses I won’t name for reasons. I almost died ten times before I stumbled upon a fighting arena, which, lo and behold, held Kronos’ forces.

I didn’t want to say we were captured easily, but that would be a lie. We were out numbered and they were stronger than us–really, it was too easy for them. I ended up making a deal with Luke, though. If I beat his forces, then he would let me and Grover go. He didn’t think very highly of me, so he unfairly pitted me against the one person I was actually scared to fight–Percy. I hadn’t seen him for a year, but he had really changed during that year. He was taller than me now, and he definitely had the body of a Greek warrior. Logically, I didn’t stand a chance, not with him wielding Riptide. But as we clashed, something was there, in his eyes. As we continued to fight, with him slowly gaining the upper hand, he stared at me with wide eyes. In those sea-green eyes I didn’t see hate or resentment, unlike Luke. No, what I saw was raw fear. 

I swung my sword with all I had and he met it with his own blade, sending bronze sparks flying. We stood there, arms shaking and pushing against each other, my blade slowly sliding towards me. Then he muttered through gritted teeth,

“Annabeth, please…help me. They say they’re going to complete my training, that I’m headed for the final step in preparations. Please Annabeth, I’m scared. I didn’t know things would end up like this. I just wanted recognition, equality, justice for my mom. Please…Luke–” he was cut off by Grover’s shrill off-key panpipes, an attempt to distract him. I took advantage of the gift Grover had given me and slashed upward, ripping a section of Percy’s dark blue shirt, blood welling up in a jagged line over his heart. He clutched his chest, sticky blood coating his fingers, and collapsed to his knees.

My pulse was racing, I could hardly breathe. Percy’s words still lingered in my mind. What had he meant? What were they doing to him? Doing to Luke? What was Kronos planning? How soon was it all going to happen?

All of these were questions that raced through my head a million miles per hour. I forced them down. I didn’t need distractions at a time like this.

I spun around and confronted Luke, demanding he let us go. Sneering, he made up some BS answer about not playing fairly and that he still won no matter what. The monsters closed around me and I knew my fighting skills wouldn’t get me out of this. I had to use other skills. I searched around wildly, but I couldn’t find anything of use, other than the chains hanging above us…Actually, those could work. I sprinted towards the closest wall, causing all of the monsters to follow me. I jumped over Percy’s now still form, planted a foot on the wall, pushed off, and grabbed wildly for the chains. I caught one and hauled myself up, my arms burning from the effort. I really needed to lift weights more.

Now most of the monsters were just staring at me, taunting, jeering, and cat-calling for me to come down. Many promised my death and they painted it quite vividely. I actually had to hand it to them for their imaginations.

Instead of heeding their calls, I started shifting my weight, causing me to swing on the chains. It started out slowly, but soon enough I was covering a pretty huge distance with the wrought iron chains. I aimed for the bleachers closest to the door and Grover, got one last swing to cross the distance, then let go at the last minute. I soared over the monsters, the arena stands coming up quick. My shins hit the steps and I stumbled and fell, cutting open my shins. I paid little attention to the pain, focusing on scrambling up, ignoring Luke’s roars to capture me, getting closer and closer to Grover…and then jumping down and sprinting out the door Grover had opened up. (The monsters detaining him before had abandoned him in the hopes of being able to kill me when I was up in the chains.)

We ran and ran, taking the twists and turns of the Labyrinth by random. We eventually found our way out three days later. Even after I was back at camp, I couldn’t get Percy’s panicked face and his pleads for help out of my head.

 

By the next year, war had erupted. It had steadily gotten worse after the Battle of the Labyrinth when Kronos’ forces had found their way into camp through the labyrinth. We lost a lot of campers, satyrs, and nymphs that day, and things didn’t get better. Now, demigods were being sent out on quests without consulting the Oracle of Delphi, fewer were returning. Kronos’ forces were getting stronger by the day, and we were severely outnumbered. I stopped seeing satyrs–they were out desperately trying to find new demigods. We were going extinct.

The final battle took place in Manhattan, where the entire city was put to sleep because of Morpheus, the god of dreams. 

We split up to try to cover all entrances into Manhattan, not that there were many of us to start with, even if we included the Hunters of Artemis, who showed up with Thalia at the head. I joined a group protecting the Williamsburg Bridge and we clashed head-on with a portion of Kronos’ army–with Percy leading them.

Percy was different. Even though he had changed little by little over the years, he was a completely different person. I could feel it when he approached, the way he sauntered across the bridge, a black Stygian Iron trident in his hand. The river underneath us surged with his every step and I could feel the cold rolling off of him. His face was set with a feral grin and flashing eyes. Whatever they had done to him, whatever he had been terrified of the prior year, it had turned him into a cold-blooded killer. 

He attacked our forces ruthlessly and we barely managed to withdraw. Bodies of demigods lay strewn across the bridge and Michael Yew, son of Apollo, bravely sacrificed himself to blow up the bridge so the rest of us could escape. 

The final battle waged right on the streets outside of the Empire State Building. But while the chaos raged outside, Luke–now Kronos–, Percy, and a few other lieutenants had made their way inside and had arrived in the throne room of the gods. Olympus was nearly destroyed, as well as the throne room. Myself, Grover, Thalia, and a few others had chased after them and fought the King of the Titans. 

Once again, I was left fighting Percy and up close, he was even more terrifying. When he stared me down, it was like a cat staring down a mouse: wicked and full of amusement. He casually changed his trident from one hand to another. He was a full head taller than me now and he stared down his nose at me.   
“Percy…what did they do to you?”  
“They made me stronger, Annabeth.” He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Honestly, when I spoke to you last year, I was weak. I begged you to save me, to help in some form, so full of terror. Oh, I had no idea what they had in store for me.”

“And what was that?” I asked carefully, circling him slowly as he circled me. 

“Tartarus, the Eternal Pit, the Pit of the Damned, the place where Lord Kronos came from, whatever you want to call it.” He said it so casually, as if I had just asked him what his favorite kind of food was. Cold waves were sent down my spine. He had gone into Tartarus and survived…and this is what had crawled out.

“How’d you survive? No one who goes into Tartarus comes back alive.” That’s because no one’s ever tried…

“I fought, Annabeth. It was basically the same as fighting monsters here, except you know, they have nowhere to reform except for Tartarus themselves. There was a lot of running, lots of nightmares you can’t even comprehend. Did you know that lava is drinkable down there?”

I didn’t answer, I was unable to. How did you even respond to something like that? And he wasn’t fazed at all…as if he were already dead inside.

“And how’d you get out?”

“They let me out. After a year, they sent someone down to fetch me and bring me back if I was still alive. I was, and here I am. Lord Kronos’ right hand.”

“And you don’t care what they did to Luke either?”

“I don’t care about anyone, Annabeth.”

That was it, that was what snapped for me. “And what about your mom, huh?” I demanded.

He was on me in a flash. I felt my back hit something hard and cold and I saw stars. It took me minute to realize Percy had moved, pushing me up against a stone pillar, and now had his trident blocking off my air, pressing into my neck.

“Percy…” I gasped, staring into the dark green storm of his eyes. They were cold and angry and I knew right then that I was going to die. I had said the wrong thing and Percy, this new, coldblooded Percy, was going to kill me. But I couldn’t go down like this, I just couldn’t. 

I kicked out at him, my foot connecting right below the belt, and Percy went down. No matter how long he had spent in Tartarus, he was still a man, and every man had a weakness. He wasn’t down for long though. I had sprinted past him and retrieved my dagger, which I had dropped. My fingers clenched around the metal and I braced myself just as Percy got up. I expected him to be angry, to snarl at me, to yell, something. But instead, he just stared at me with those cold, green eyes.

“That was stupid of you, Annabeth.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but then I suddenly felt my body go rigid. I felt a sharp pain in my hand and arm and watched as it slowly made its way up, pointing the dagger at my chest. It hurt, it felt like something was pulling my muscles and tendons and twisting them. Everything was on fire. Tears came to my eyes and I saw, standing in front of me, was Percy with his hand outstretched in my direction. 

“Percy, what–?” 

“Like my new trick, Annabeth? Who knew it was possible to control other people?” Percy drawled. The ground around us started to shake, the marble floor cracking. I fell to my knees, still fighting against my own arm, the pain growing stronger. “And that’s not all I learned down in Tartarus,” he continued.

I felt my tears start to stream out, the pull of them feeling unnatural and weird. I coughed and I saw blood come out, spattering across the ruined, white marble floor.

“Percy, what are you–?”

“Human beings are more than 60 percent water. Blood is 92 percent water, while the brain and muscles are 75 percent water, and bones are about 22 percent water.”

“Percy, stop!” I choked, coughing up more blood and water. I couldn’t breathe, each ragged breath I took made me feel like I was drowning. I _was_ drowning. He was using my own bodily fluids against me, pulling them from me, flooding my lungs, blocking my airways.

“And then there’s the water in the air. I learned that up here, actually. There’s no water in Tartarus.”

“Please!” I begged. Tears were streaming down my face, I was drowning in my own fluids, my blood ran across the tile. As I stared across the ruined throne room at Percy Jackson, and just before the world faded away, I realized that the boy I had met and helped bring back the Master Bolt, my wayward friend, the scared and angry boy who had begged for my help, was dead.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers: The idea of the black stygian trident and attitude Percy has was inspired by the au by tumblr user blackjacktheboss: http://blackjacktheboss.tumblr.com/post/118000150526/au-of-gabe-not-dying-just-leaving-and-darkpercy
> 
> Also, there are scenes that are taken directly out of The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters, with some lines that are word for word. These are not mine, they belong to Rick Riordan and Disney Hyperion.


End file.
